3 police lieutenants are cited for alleged detail abuses

By David Abel, Globe Staff | August 23, 2007

Three Boston police lieutenants are together facing hundreds of disciplinary charges after an internal investigation concluded that the highly paid officers persistently abused the department's paid-detail system, police officials said yesterday.

The internal audit of shifts worked in 2005 concluded that Lieutenants Haseeb Hosein, Timothy Kervin, and Ghassoub Frangie engaged in untruthful reporting of hours, performed details that conflicted with a scheduled tour of duty, and received details through unauthorized means. Hosein and Kervin were also cited with breaking the law, but officials did not provide details on the alleged infractions.

The charges were announced less than a week after police cited Sergeant Jacqueline Creaven with 119 disciplinary violations by allegedly abusing the same system.

In 2005, the lieutenants earned much more than their base salaries of about $75,000. Kervin earned $237,272.34, more than any other city official that year; Hosein made $228,807.33; and Frangie took home $171,916.94, according to city records. In the same year, Mayor Thomas M. Menino earned $150,000 and Kathleen M. O'Toole, then the police commissioner, made $160,000.

Elaine Driscoll, a police spokeswoman, said police will decide in coming weeks whether to file criminal charges against any of the officers.

In a phone interview, Sergeant Mark Parolin, vice president of the Boston Police Superior Officers Federation, defended the officers.

"We believe the charges are trumped up, and we'll fight it through every legal process that we can," Parolin said. "We haven't had a trial board yet. If these charges are true, why did they let it get this far? Why didn't they do something then?"

He said Hosein, who is Muslim, has filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. Hosein declined to comment, and Parolin said neither he nor the other officers would answer questions.

On Tuesday, Creaven, a South End patrol supervisor accused of lying about the hours she worked and making side deals with outside vendors who hired her to monitor their premises and construction sites, filed a lawsuit against the Police Department in Suffolk Superior Court. The 16-year veteran contends she is a victim of gender discrimination and says she is being punished for airing internal grievances.

"These adverse actions are the direct result of [Creaven's] attempt to bring to light important concerns about sex discrimination, disparate treatment, and selective enforcement within the department, and defendants' retaliation against plaintiff for bringing these issues to light is blatantly unlawful," her complaint says.

Driscoll declined to comment on the complaints filed by Hosein and Creaven.

The lieutenants, all of whom have surrendered their weapons, will join Creaven on desk duty until police Commissioner Edward F. Davis decides on the appropriate action, officials said. For the time being, none will be allowed to do paid details.

"Prior to my appointment as police commissioner, the Boston Police Department had been proactively and diligently working to uncover what is clearly a scheme involving the detail system," Davis said in a statement.

"Such behavior will not be tolerated by this department, and we will continue to be proactive in our efforts to prevent, uncover, and when necessary, discipline for actions unbecoming and inappropriate."

The investigators accused Hosein, a 19-year veteran, of 203 violations that include 80 counts of inaccurate reporting on a detail card, 16 counts of receiving details outside the system, 24 counts of accepting a detail scheduled during his regular patrol shifts, and one count of breaking the law and conduct unbecoming an officer.

Kervin, a 20-year veteran, was charged with 191 violations that include 68 counts of inaccurate reporting on a detail card, 46 counts of receiving details outside the system, six counts of accepting a detail scheduled during his regular patrol shifts, and one count each of breaking the law and conduct unbecoming of an officer.

Frangie, a 29-year veteran, was charged with 84 violations that include 34 counts of inaccurate reporting on a detail card, 10 counts of accepting a detail scheduled during his regular patrol shifts, three counts of receiving details outside the system, and two counts of conduct unbecoming an officer.